Infinite ultraviolet shielding devices, systems, and methods

ABSTRACT

A UV shielding device including a sanitizing interface having a top surface arranged to support device positioned above the sanitizing interface where the sanitizing interface includes a translucent material arranged to allow UV light to pass through. The device also includes at least one shape sensor arranged to detect a shape of a surface of the device facing the sanitizing interface. The device further includes an adjustable UV emission interface that is positioned adjacent to the sanitizing interface and arranged to adjustably conform to the shape of the surface of the device facing the sanitizing interface, while also being arranged to emit the UV light toward sanitizing interface and device.

REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation-in-part of U.S. patent applicationSer. No. 17/074,015, filed on Oct. 19, 2020. This application alsoclaims priority to and the benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication No. 63/138,029, filed on Jan. 15, 2021, entitled “InfiniteUltraviolet Shielding Devices, Systems, and Methods.” This applicationis related to U.S. patent application Ser. No. 17/074,025, filed on Oct.19, 2020. The entire contents of the above-referenced patentapplications are incorporated herein by reference.

TECHNICAL FIELD

This application relates generally to device sanitization techniquesand, more particularly, to ultraviolet shielding techniques.

BACKGROUND

Biocontamination, including the spread of bacteria and viruses, hastraditionally been a threat to humans and animals. Bacteria, viruses,and other microorganisms that can cause serious illness or infectiousdiseases are typically spread by persons walking into contaminated areasand then transporting the contaminants to other areas via the soles oftheir footwear. Such contaminants are then typically deposited from thesoles of a person's footwear to previously uncontaminated floor surfacesfrom which these contaminants further spread to the soles of otherpersons walking on the floor surfaces. This cycle can continue untilcontaminants are spread throughout a building or buildings as persons'with contaminated soles move from place to place.

Eventually some persons will touch the soles of their shoes or floorsurfaces, or contaminants can become airborne, resulting in dangerousexposures to anyone within contaminated areas. Hospitals, otherhealthcare facilities, or facilities having a high density of people areespecially vulnerable to contaminants due to a significantly increasedpossibility that persons will be exposed to harmful bacteria, viruses,and other microorganisms. Biocontaminants have spread from the soles ofcontaminated shoes to various types of floor surfaces including cementfloors, wood floors, and carpeted floors, which are often subsequentlypicked up directly by persons in contact with such floor surfaces orindirectly via their footwear soles.

Shoe sole cleaning, such as in residential environments, is largelylimited to manual debris removal via outdoor and indoor floor mats,which are typically located in close proximity to main entryways. Thesedevices provide varying levels of debris removal from shoe soles. Due totheir inherent design, they are incapable of removing or eliminatingdisease-causing microscopic organisms and bio-contaminants such asbacteria, viruses, and other harmful germs and spores from the shoesole.

There are existing systems that provide for the reduction of pathogensfrom the soles of shoes. However, these systems do not adequatelyprevent re-contamination of footwear soles after the decontaminationprocess. Also, current systems provide minimal to no ultraviolet (UV)light shielding to users during the decontamination process. Hence,there is a need to more effectively and safely reduce or eliminate thelikelihood of spreading bio-contaminants via the footwear soles ofpersons moving from place to place, while protecting individual usersfrom potentially harmful UV rays. Aside from footwear, other devices areoften exposed to contamination such as articles of clothing, handheld oruser operated equipment, mobile devices, wearable items (e.g., jewelry),and vehicles. Unfortunately, existing systems that providedecontamination of the other types of devices either provide inadequateUV protection to users or are cumbersome to use.

Furthermore, UV-C light, at several peak wavelengths between 200 nm and280 nm, has been proven to be highly effective and efficient in thesanitization of pathogens when properly exposed to surfaces and fluidsin residential, commercial, and industrial applications. Unfortunately,direct exposure of UV-C light in these wavelengths can be extremelyharmful to human skin and eyes.

Conventional UV-C sanitizing applications are typically executed whilehumans are isolated from the harmful UV-C rays or when they are notpresent. However, studies have shown that humans and human devices aretransporters of pathogens into and within facilities. Therefore, formany establishments, the inability to sanitize owners, patrons, vendors,and workers, or their personal belongings or devices, is undesirable.

Hence, there exists a need to provide enhanced pathogen sanitizingfunctions for devices, which utilize UV-C light, whereby human presenceshould not be a concern. This would effectively reduce thetransportation of pathogens into and throughout residential, commercial,and industrial facilities, and therefore improve the overall health andsafety in these establishments.

SUMMARY

The application, in various implementations, addresses deficienciesassociated with cleaning and sanitizing devices used by humans.

This application describes exemplary systems, methods, and devices thateffectively remove and collect debris from various types of devicesincluding, but not limited to footwear soles, and also effectivelysanitize any side of a device or bottom of footwear (also referred toherein as a “sole” or “soles”). A device may include, withoutlimitation, an article of clothing, handheld equipment, user-operatedequipment, a mobile device, computer, electronic consumer device,firearms, wearable items (e.g., jewelry), a tent, a protective suit, avehicle, an autonomous vehicle, an autonomous ariel vehicle (AAV), andso on. Footwear may include, without limitation, shoes, sneakers,sandals, slippers, boots, and any type of foot apparel worn by users toprotect their feet. The exemplary cleaning and sanitizing techniquesdescribed herein create a cleaner and healthier environment in dailyliving, recreational, and/or working areas. The exemplary systems,methods, and devices also incorporate techniques for screening a userfrom any UV light that goes beyond or escapes past the user's deviceincluding, without limitation, deploying a UV shield and/or controllingUV light emissions such that UV light is only emitted when a user'sdevice is determined to be in a designated position.

In some implementations, the inventive systems, methods and devicesherein provide a fully integrated debris removal stage with a pathogenand/or contaminant sanitization stage. Such a two-stage process and/orsequence is advantageous because debris collected on a portion of adevice, e.g., footwear soles or mobile phone body, that may compromiseor inhibit effective sanitization of the device is removed before thesanitization stage to eliminate any physical or line-of-sight barrierbetween a UV emitter and contaminants and/or pathogens on a device,e.g., a footwear sole.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) and independenthospital reports claim that pathogens are commonly transported bydevices, such as footwear, from one area to another. In variousimplementations, the systems, methods, and devices described hereinpromote a forward directional or one-way travel path having an entranceand an exit for the user to move through the footwear sole cleaning andsanitization process. This advantageously eliminates the possibilitythat users will re-contaminate their footwear soles by back-trackingtheir steps directly into the path of all previous users.

In certain implementations, the present disclosure includes a “digital”shield system that protects users in close proximity to equipment thatutilizes UV-C light during sanitizing applications. Such devices,systems, and/or methods accurately generate a 2-dimensional screen shapeor shapes that precisely matches the outline of a sensed object that isin close proximity. The screen safely blocks the user from the UV-Clight that is outside of the assumed shape or shapes while also allowingproper exposure of UV-C light to the assumed shape or shapes. In certainconfigurations, the screen can assume any one of a plurality of shapes,i.e., assume an infinite 2-dimensional shape form capability within adefined space.

In one aspect, a UV sanitizing device includes a sanitizing interfacehaving a top surface arranged to support a device positioned above thesanitizing interface. The sanitizing interface includes a translucentmaterial arranged to allow UV light to pass through. The device includesat least one sensor arranged to detect a shape of a surface of thedevice facing the sanitizing interface. The UV sanitizing device alsoincludes an adjustable UV emission interface, positioned adjacent to thesanitizing interface, arranged to adjustably conform to the shape of thefirst device facing the sanitizing interface, and arranged to emit theUV light toward the sanitizing interface.

The adjustable UV emission interface may include at least one UV emitterarranged to emit the UV light toward the device and through thesanitizing interface. The UV emission interface may include an array ofUV emitters controllable by a processor and/or controller to selectivelyemit the UV light toward the device being sanitized. The array of UVemitters may include light emitting diode (LED) emitters, which mayinclude, for example, a Mini-LED or Micro-LED. The UV emission interfacemay include a UV shield having an array of cells configured toselectively allow or block the UV light emitted from one or more UVemitters.

In another aspect, a UV sanitizing system includes a sanitizinginterface having a top surface arranged to support a device positionedabove the sanitizing interface. The sanitizing interface includes atranslucent material arranged to allow UV light to pass through. Thesystem includes at least one shape sensor arranged to generate shapedata associated with a detected shape of a surface of the device facingthe sanitizing interface. The system also includes at least one UV lightemitter arranged to emit UV light toward the first device and a shieldpanel positioned between the at least one UV light emitter and thesanitizing interface. The shield panel may include an array of screeningcells. The system further includes a controller arranged to: i) receivethe shape data; ii) open a first portion of the array of screen cellsand close a second portion of the array of screen cells in response tothe received shape data; and iii) activate the at least one UV lightemitter.

The first portion of the array of screen cells may include a firstplurality of screen cells substantially opposing the surface of thedevice facing the sanitizing interface. The second portion of the arrayof screen cells may include a second plurality of screen cells that arenot substantially opposing the surface of the first device facing thesanitizing interface. In some implementations, each of the screeningcells of the array of screening cells includes a liquid crystal (LC). Insome configurations, the controller opens each of the screening cells ofthe first portion of the array of screen cells by selectively applying apower signal to each of the screening cells of the first portion of thearray of screen cells. The controller may close each of the screeningcells of the second portion of the array of screen cells by selectivelyremoving a power signal to each of the screening cells of the secondportion of the array of screen cells. The system may include a proximitysensor or sensors arranged to detect the presence of the first devicewhen positioned above the sanitizing interface. The at least one shapesensor may include an optical sensor and/or a mass sensor.

In a further aspect, a UV sanitizing system includes a sanitizinginterface having a top surface arranged to support a device, e.g.,footwear, positioned above the sanitizing interface. The sanitizinginterface includes a translucent material arranged to allow UV light topass through. The system includes at least one shape sensor arranged togenerate shape data associated with a detected shape of a surface of thedevice facing the sanitizing interface. The system also includes a lightemitting panel having an array of UV light emitter cells arranged toemit UV light toward the sanitizing interface and a controller arrangedto: i) receive the shape data and ii) activate a first portion of thearray of UV light emitter cells and deactivate a second portion of thearray of UV light emitter cells in response to the received shape data.

In some implementations, the first portion of the array of UV lightemitter cells includes a first plurality of emitter cells thatsubstantially oppose the surface of the device facing the sanitizinginterface. The second portion of the array of UV light emitter cellsincludes a second plurality of emitter cells that do not substantiallyoppose the surface of the device facing the sanitizing interface. Eachof the emitter cells of the array of UV light emitter cells may includean LED (e.g., a Mini- or Micro-LED). In one configuration, thecontroller activates each of the emitter cells of the first portion ofthe array of UV light emitter cells by selectively applying a powersignal to each of the emitter cells of the first portion of the array ofUV light emitter cells. The controller deactivates each of the emittercells of the second portion of the array of UV light emitter cells byselectively removing a power signal to each of the emitter cells of thesecond portion of the array of UV light emitter cells. The system mayinclude a proximity sensor arranged to detect the presence of the firstdevice when positioned above the sanitizing interface.

Any two or more of the features described in this specification,including in this summary section, may be combined to formimplementations not specifically described in this specification.Furthermore, while this specification may refer to examples of systems,methods, and devices related to devices for humans, such techniques alsoapply equally to cleaning and sanitizing devices associated withanimals.

The details of one or more implementations are set forth in theaccompanying drawings and the following description. Other features andadvantages will be apparent from the description and drawings, and fromthe claims.

DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary sole debris cleaning andsanitization system and/or device;

FIG. 2 shows a diagram of a computer system;

FIGS. 3A-3G show a series of user interface screen shots displayed to auser as they operate the exemplary sole debris cleaning and sanitizationsystems of FIGS. 1 and 4;

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a sole debris cleaning and sanitizationsystem and/or device that illustrates a user's position before, during,and after the debris cleaning and sanitization process;

FIG. 5 shows a process for performing debris cleaning and sanitization;

FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C show a specification table for an exemplaryconfiguration of a debris cleaning and sanitization device;

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate positions of a lever-based UV shieldingdevice during a UV sanitization and/or decontamination process;

FIG. 8 illustrates first and second positions of an elastic aperture UVshielding device;

FIGS. 9A and 9B shows side views of an aperture wall of the elasticaperture UV shield device of FIG. 8 including a closed shield for smallfootwear and an expanded shield for a larger footwear;

FIG. 10A shows a top view of a portion of the aperture wall of FIG. 9including a linkage bearing and wedge shape curtain foots;

FIG. 10B shows a side view of the linkage bearing of FIG. 10A.

FIGS. 11A and 11B illustrate how the elastic aperture UV shieldingdevice expands and contracts depending on the size of footwear;

FIG. 12 shows an electric aperture UV shielding device includingmultiple film layers;

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a UV sanitization system includinga UV shielding layer;

FIG. 14 shows a process for providing UV shielding;

FIGS. 15A and 15B illustrate a shutter in the open or pass throughposition and in a closed or blocking position;

FIG. 16A shows a row of shutters including power control signal inputs;

FIG. 16B shows an array of shutters arranged in multiple rows andcolumns;

FIG. 17A shows a UV sanitizing housing including optical sensorsarranged to detect the presence of an object such as footwear;

FIG. 17B shows the UV sanitizing housing of FIG. 17A when the UV emitteris emitting light while a portion of the shutters are open to passthrough UV light toward the footwear and another portion of the shuttersare closed to block UV light not directed toward the footwear;

FIG. 18 is an exploded view 1800 of multiple layers of a UV sanitizingdevice illustrating how the optical sensor(s) 1802, 1804, and 1806 candetect the shape of footwear with a shield layer 1808 including an arrayof cell and/or shutters 1810. The shield layer 1808 has a portion 1812of cells that are open to pass through UV light toward the footwearwhile another portion 1814 of the cells and/or shutters is closed toblock portions of UV light not directed toward the footwear from passingthrough the shield layer 1808;

FIG. 19 is an exploded view of multiple layers of a UV sanitizing deviceillustrating how a mass sensing top layer detects the presence offootwear and a shield layer including an array of shutters with aportion of shutter that are open to pass through UV light toward thedetected footwear while another portion of the shutters is closed toblock UV light not directed toward the footwear from passing through theshield layer;

FIG. 20A shows a UV sanitizing housing including a mass sensing layerarranged to detect the presence of an object such as footwear and an UVlight emitter layer;

FIG. 20B shows the UV sanitizing housing of FIG. 20A when a firstportion of the UV light emitters are emitting light and another portionof the UV light emitters are not emitting UV light;

FIGS. 21A and 21B are top down views of a UV sanitizing device showing aportion of cells that are open and portion of cells that are closeddepending on the shape of detected footwear or a portion of UV lightemitter cells that are activated and portion of UV light emitter cellsthat are not activated depending on the shape of the detected footwear;

FIG. 22 shows a debris remover arrange to remove debris from a hand-helddevice;

FIG. 23 shows a hand-held device positioned on the top surface of asanitizer interface; and

FIG. 24 shows a vehicle positioned above a top surface of a sanitizerinterface.

Like reference numerals in different figures indicate like elements.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

The application, in various implementations, addresses deficienciesassociated with cleaning and sanitizing devices used by humans oranimals. This application describes exemplary systems, methods, anddevices that effectively remove and collect debris from devices and alsoeffectively sanitize a portion of the devices including, for example,the bottoms and/or soles of footwear. The exemplary cleaning andsanitizing techniques described herein create a cleaner and healthierenvironment in daily living, recreational, and/or working areas. Theexemplary systems, methods, and devices also incorporate techniques forscreening a user from any UV light that goes beyond or escapes past theuser's device including, without limitation, deploying a UV shieldand/or controlling UV light emissions such that UV light is only emittedwhen a user's device is determined to be in a designated position.

FIG. 1 is a diagram of an exemplary sole debris cleaning andsanitization system and/or device 100 including a debris cleaner 134 andsanitizer 148 within housing 102. Housing 102 includes a top surface104, a first side 106 that is adjacent to a user entry portal 140, and asecond side 108 that is adjacent to a user exit portal 142. A firstrailing 114 and second railing 116 extend along sides 144 and 146respectively and may be mounted on top surface 104. In someimplementations, only one railing such as railing 116 is mounted on topsurface 104.

Railing 116 may include one or more rails such as rail 118 that mayextend horizontally or vertically to form railing 116. In oneconfiguration, railings 114 and 116 define a pathway through which auser passes along from user entry portal 140 to user exit portal 142.Railing 114 and/or 116 may provide hand holding rails such as rail 118to allow a user to support themselves while moving along the pathway orprovide support while moving their feet to various positions along topsurface 104. Debris remover 134 may have one or more debris removalelements, e.g., brushes, extending toward a debris removal opening 110in top surface 104. The brushes may be arranged to contact the footwearsole of a user while the footwear sole is positioned over the debrisremoval opening 110 and remove debris from the footwear sole.

In one implementation, the debris removal opening 110 is in proximity orsubstantially adjacent to the first side 106 and/or user entry port 140.Stepping areas 130 may provide locations where a user can place one shoewhile contacting their other shoe with the brushes of debris remover 134or place both shoes before or after the debris removal brushes arerotated to remove debris from footwear soles. In one implementation, thebrushes of debris remover 134 are stationary, requiring a user to movethe footwear against the brushes in an abrasive manner to remove debrison the footwear soles.

Sanitizer 148 may have one or more sanitizing elements, e.g., a UVemitter that emits UV light, directed toward one or more sanitizinginterfaces 112 on top surface 104. The UV emitter or emitters mayinclude one or more UV-LEDs (e.g., Mini-LEDs or Micro-LEDs) and/or UVmercury lamps. The emitted UV light and/or rays may include wavelengthsfrom about 100 to 380 nm. The UV emitter or emitters may include atleast one of a UV-A emitter (e.g., emitting UV light having about 320 to400 nm wavelengths), a UV-B emitter (e.g., emitting UV light havingabout 280 to 320 nm wavelengths), and a UV-C emitter (e.g., emitting UVlight having about 200 to 280 nm). The sanitizing elements will besubstantially aligned with a footwear sole while the footwear sole ispositioned over the one or more sanitizing interfaces 112 to removecontaminants from the footwear sole. In one implementation, the one ormore sanitizing interfaces 112 are positioned laterally on top surface104 between debris removal opening 110 and the second side 108 and/oruser exit portal 142 of the housing 102. Sanitizing interfaces 112 mayinclude a transparent, semi-transparent, or translucent material thatpasses through UV light emitted from the one or more UV emitters towarda footwear sole or soles positioned over one or more sanitizinginterfaces 112. A sanitizing interface may include glass, plexiglass,plastic, grates, and/or a material configured to allow UV light to passthrough. The one or more sanitizing interfaces 112 may reside withinand/or define one or more sanitization areas. The sanitization areas maybe shaped to form an outline of, for example, shoes or other footwear asillustrated in FIG. 1. Top surface 104 may include a stop area 136 toaccommodate high-heeled shoes.

Housing 102 may include one or more sensors 128 arranged to generatesensor data based on a detected position of a footwear sole, detectedposition of a user, detected temperature of a component of system 100,detected presence of debris on a footwear sole, and/or a detectedpresence of a contaminant on a footwear sole, In one implementation,sensors 128 are arranged to detect the presence and/or position offootwear soles within the sanitization areas defined by sanitizationinterfaces 112. Although not shown in FIG. 1, system 100 may includeother sensors in proximity to debris removal opening 110 to detect whenfootwear is in proximity and/or in contact with debris remover 134.Another sensor may monitor the amount of debris collected in debrisremoval drawer 138. Drawer 138 may store debris removed from footwearand provide for convenient removal and disposal of the debris. Proximitysensors may be positioned at the user entry portal 140 and/or user exitportal 142 to detect when a user enters or exits the pathway of thesystem respectively. Sensors may include, without limitation, opticalsensors, pressure sensors, sonic sensors, haptic sensors, andtemperature sensors.

Housing 102 may include a user interface arranged to provide one or morecues to a user during operations of the device. The user interface mayinclude display 120, one or more visual indicator elements on topsurface 104, and one or more audio speakers that may issue audiocommands and/or beeps to a user to perform certain actions during thecleaning and sanitization process. The cues may include an instructionto a user to position their footwear sole or soles over the debrisremoval opening 110, position their footwear sole or soles over thesanitizing interfaces 112, enter and/or step onto portions of topsurface 104 such as, for example, stepping areas 130 when the userenters user entry portal 140, and/or exits or step off top surface 104via user exit portal 142. System 100 may include a phone caddie 122and/or storage container which may be arranged to hold a user's phoneand/or may be configured to clean and sanitize the user's phone.

System 100 may include a controller, e.g., controller 410 of FIG. 4,arranged to: i) receive sensor data from the one or more sensors such assensors 128; i) control operations of the debris remover 134 and/orsanitizer in 148 response to the received sensor data, and iii) send cueinstructions associated with the one or more cues to the user interfacefor display to a user via, for example, display 120. The controller mayinclude a computer system.

FIG. 2 includes a block diagram of a computer system 200 for performingthe functions of a computer such as for the controller associated withFIG. 1 and/or controller 410 of FIG. 4. The exemplary computer system200 includes a central processing unit (CPU) 202, a memory 204, and aninterconnect bus 206. The CPU 202 may include a single microprocessor ora plurality of microprocessors for configuring computer system 200 as amulti-processor system. The memory 204 illustratively includes a mainmemory and a read only memory. The computer 200 also includes the massstorage device 208 having, for example, various disk drives, tapedrives, etc. The main memory 204 also includes dynamic random accessmemory (DRAM) and high-speed cache memory. In operation, the main memory204 stores at least portions of instructions and data for execution bythe CPU 202.

The mass storage 208 may include one or more magnetic disk or tapedrives or optical disk drives or solid state memory, for storing dataand instructions for use by the CPU 202. At least one component of themass storage system 208, preferably in the form of a disk drive, solidstate, or tape drive, stores the database used for processing sensordata and/or controlling operations of system 100 and/or 400. The massstorage system 208 may also include one or more drives for variousportable media, such as a floppy disk, flash drive, a compact disc readonly memory (CD-ROM, DVD, CD-RW, and variants), memory stick, or anintegrated circuit non-volatile memory adapter (i.e. PC-MCIA adapter) toinput and output data and code to and from the computer system 200.

The computer system 200 may also include one or more input/outputinterfaces for communications, shown by way of example, as interface 210and/or transceiver for data communications via the network 212 (ornetwork 104 of FIG. 1). The data interface 210 may be a modem, anEthernet card or any other suitable data communications device. Toprovide the functions of a computer 102, the data interface 210 mayprovide a relatively high-speed link to a network 212, such as anintranet, or the Internet, either directly or through another externalinterface. The communication link to the network 212 may be, forexample, optical, wired, or wireless (e.g., via satellite or cellularnetwork). Alternatively, the computer system 200 may include a mainframeor other type of host computer system capable of Web-basedcommunications via the network 212. The computer system 200 may includesoftware for operating a network application such as a web server and/orweb client.

The computer system 200 may also include suitable input/output ports,that may interface with a portable data storage device, or use theinterconnect bus 206 for interconnection with a local display 216 andkeyboard 214 or the like serving as a local user interface forprogramming and/or data retrieval purposes. The display 216 and/ordisplay 120 may include a touch screen capability to enable users tointerface with the system 200 by touching portions of the surface of thedisplay 216. Remote operations personnel may interact with the system200 for controlling and/or programming the system from remote terminaldevices via the network 212.

The computer system 200 may run a variety of application programs andstore associated data in a database of mass storage system 208. One ormore such applications may include a cleaning and sanitization processthat controls various components of system 100 and/or provides cue to auser to perform certain actions during the cleaning and sanitizationprocess.

The components contained in the computer system 200 may enable thecomputer system to be used as a server, workstation, personal computer,network terminal, mobile computing device, and the like. As discussedabove, the computer system 200 may include one or more applications thatenable cleaning and sanitization of a footwear sole or soles. The system200 may include software and/or hardware that implements a web serverapplication. The web server application may include software such asHTML, XML, WML, SGML, PHP (Hypertext Preprocessor), CGI, and likelanguages.

The foregoing features of the disclosure may be realized as a softwarecomponent operating in the system 200 where the system 200 includes UNIXworkstation, a Windows workstation, a LINUX workstation, or other typeof workstation. Other operating systems may be employed such as, withoutlimitation, Windows, MAC OS, and LINUX. In some aspects, the softwarecan optionally be implemented as a C language computer program, or acomputer program written in any high level language including, withoutlimitation, JavaScript, Java, CSS, Python, PHP, Ruby, C++, C, Shell, C#,Objective-C, Go, R, TeX, VimL, Perl, Scala, CoffeeScript, Emacs Lisp,Swift, Fortran, or Visual BASIC. Certain script-based programs may beemployed such as XML, WML, PHP, and so on. The system 200 may use adigital signal processor (DSP).

As stated previously, the mass storage 208 may include a database. Thedatabase may be any suitable database system, including the commerciallyavailable Microsoft Access database, and can be a local or distributeddatabase system. A database system may implement Sybase and/or an SQLServer. The database may be supported by any suitable persistent datamemory, such as a hard disk drive, RAID system, tape drive system,floppy diskette, or any other suitable system. The system 200 mayinclude a database that is integrated with the system 200, however, itis understood that, in other implementations, the database and massstorage 208 can be an external element.

In certain implementations, the system 200 may include an Internetbrowser program and/or to be configured to operate as a web server. Insome configurations, the client and/or web server may be configured torecognize and interpret various network protocols that may be used by aclient or server program. Commonly used protocols include HypertextTransfer Protocol (HTTP), File Transfer Protocol (FTP), Telnet, andSecure Sockets Layer (SSL), and Transport Layer Security (TLS), forexample. However, new protocols and revisions of existing protocols maybe frequently introduced. Thus, in order to support a new or revisedprotocol, a new revision of the server and/or client application may becontinuously developed and released.

The computer system 200 may include a web server running a Web 2.0application or the like. Web applications running on system 200 may useserver-side dynamic content generation mechanisms such, withoutlimitation, Java servlets, CGI, PHP, or ASP. In certain embodiments,mashed content may be generated by a web browser running, for example,client-side scripting including, without limitation, JavaScript and/orapplets on a wireless device.

In certain implementations, system 100, 200, and/or 400 may includeapplications that employ asynchronous JavaScript+XML (Ajax) and liketechnologies that use asynchronous loading and content presentationtechniques. These techniques may include, without limitation, XHTML andCSS for style presentation, document object model (DOM) API exposed by aweb browser, asynchronous data exchange of XML data, and web browserside scripting, e.g., JavaScript. Certain web-based applications andservices may utilize web protocols including, without limitation, theservices-orientated access protocol (SOAP) and representational statetransfer (REST). REST may utilize HTTP with XML.

The systems 100, 200, and/or 400 may also provide enhanced security anddata encryption. Enhanced security may include access control, biometricauthentication, cryptographic authentication, message integritychecking, encryption, digital rights management services, and/or otherlike security services. The security may include protocols such as IPSECand IKE. The encryption may include, without limitation, DES, 3DES, AES,RSA, and any like public key or private key based schemes.

Generally, the inventive debris cleaning and sanitization process mayinclude a sequence of stages where certain operations and/or useractions are performed. First, debris removal brushes of debris remover134 and/or 406 engage and/or are activated by controller 410 upon adetected presence of a user's footwear within the vicinity of debrisremoval opening 110. Narrow heeled shoes may be accommodated viaplacement of a high heel in designated stop area 136. A brush motor thatwas driving and/or rotating the brushes of debris remover 134 disengageswhen the footwear is detected by a sensor as being removed from thebrushes and/or the debris removal opening 110. In one implementation,the duration in which the one or more brush motors are engaged is bydefault, infinite while a sensor detects that footwear is in thevicinity of the debris removal opening 110. This duration may beestablished during the system commissioning.

As debris accumulates in debris removal drawer 138, it may be discardedwhen full, which may be monitored for available capacity by a controllersuch as controller 410 via a drawer sensor. In some implementations,system 100 and/or 400 prompts, via a user interface such as interface412 and/or display 120 for debris removal periodically, such as oncedaily. Custom drawer liners may line drawer 138 to simplify the debrisremoval process. After debris removal, a user places their shoes onsanitization areas defined by sanitization interfaces 112. An LEDindication may provide proper placement feedback to a user of the shoeposition(s). One or more LED indicators may be placed adjacent to thesanitization areas and/or display 120 may provide a graphical image ofLED indicators such as shown in FIG. 3A-3C of indicators surrounding thesanitization areas. A red indicator may indicate that footwear placementis not properly aligned with sanitization interfaces 112 while a greenindicator may indicate proper alignment of footwear. Audio, visual,and/or haptic commands and/or feedback may be provided alternatively oradditionally to the user to effect proper footwear alignment via, forexample, interface 412. Footwear placement indicators may be activatedand deactivation by controller 410 based on sensor data received fromsensors such as sensors 128 that indicator the presence or absence offootwear in certain locations on the top surface 104.

Once proper alignment is achieved, UV sanitization of footwear soles isactivated by, for example, controller 410. The duration of sanitizationmay be configured by default by the manufacturer, by a controller suchas controller 410, remotely by a remote programmer, and/or manually by auser. In one implementation, the sanitization duration, e.g., theduration that UV emitters are activated and emit UV light, may be about8-10 seconds. The range of UV emitter activation duration may beadjustable from 1 second up to 180 seconds, or longer. In oneimplementation, an LED indication of the sanitization process isprovided while sanitization occurs. A UV ray shield such as UV shield124 may protect the user from direct UV light rays that escape past theuser's footwear during sanitization. The UV shield 124 may be foldabletoward and away from the user and/or pathway. Controller 410 may engagea motor to deploy UV shield 124 before UV emitter activation and retractUV shield 124 after UV emitter activation. UV shield 124 may alsofunction as a gate to inhibit a user from exiting via the user exitportal 142 until the sanitization function is completed.

When sanitization is complete, UV light(s) and emitters turn off and/orare instructed to turn off by controller 410 and the sanitization LEDindication ceases. A user may be visually and/or audibly prompted toexit the machine top surface 104 at the opposite end from which he/sheentered, i.e., via the user exit portal 142. A display such as display120 and/or speaker may provide visual and/or audio confirmation andfeedback to a user, as well as provide function, stage, and/or errorstatus information to the user. Audio feedback may include simulatedvoice phrases and/or one or more audio beeps.

FIGS. 3A-3G show a series of user interface screen shots 300, 316, 320,340, 350, 360, and 380 displayed to a user as they operate the exemplarysole debris cleaning and sanitization systems 100 and/or 400 duringvarious stages of the cleaning and sanitization process. FIG. 3Aincludes a screen shot 300 of display 120 indicating that system 100and/or 400, i.e., the unit, is ready for cleaning and sanitization of auser's footwear sole(s). FIG. 3B includes a screen shot 316 of display120 including a shoe size menu or table 318. Display 120 may via, forexample, a touchscreen, enable a user to input their footwear size tothe system 100 and/or 400. System 100 and/or 400 may use the inputtedfootwear size to configure sanitizer 404 to emit UV light over an areatoward the footwear sole over an area corresponding to the sole size.FIG. 3C includes a screen shot 320 of display 120 indicating when thesystem 100 and/or 400 is operating in the sole debris removal stage.FIG. 3D includes a screen shot 340 of display 120 indicating when thesystem 100 and/or 400 is operating in the sanitization stage. FIG. 3Eincludes a screen shot 350 indicating that system 100 and/or 400 hascompleted the sanitization stage by, for example, removing anillumination within a footwear outline 352 and/or illuminating a yellowcolor icon of indicator 312. FIG. 3F includes a screen shot 360 ofdisplay 120 showing a troubleshooting information page or table 362regarding status of systems 100, 200, and/or 400. FIG. 3G includes ascreen shot 380 of display 120 showing programmable settings associatedwith various components of systems 100, 200, and/or 400 in table 382.

Screen shot 300 of FIG. 3A may include a footwear position image 302 ina first section 304 and a sanitization status based on indicators 306 insection 308. Footwear position image 302 shows that no footwear isengaged with debris remover 134 and/or 406. Section 308 may include atimer indicator 310 that indicates to a user the duration and/orremaining amount of time that UV emitters will be activated. Indicator310 may include an analog clock image, counter, and/or status bar thatindicates a remaining amount of time that sanitization will beactivated. Screen shot 300 may include one or more status indicators 312that indicate status of the system and/or whether system 100 and/or 400is ready to perform a stage of the cleaning and sanitization.

For example, different colored indicators may be used to indicatedifferent stages and/or different statuses of systems 100 and/or 400.For example, a green indicator 312 may be illuminated when the system100 and/or 400 is ready to operate and/or a particular stage is ready tobe initiated or is in operation. Status indicators may be illuminatedaccording to table 362 of FIG. 3D. Screen shot 300 may include one ormore selectable icons 314 that enable a user to navigate to variousscreens or return to a “Home” screen, navigate to a troubleshootingpage, navigate to a system configuration page, and/or navigate to aninformation and/or search page. Screen shots 320 and 340 may have thesame or similar visual indicators and/or images as screen shot 300.Screen shots 320, 340, 360 and 380 may also include navigation and/orsystem icons 314. Screen shot 380 may also include a settings table 382that enables a user to configure certain setting such as, for example,UV emitter activation duration.

In one implementation, system 100 and/or 400 may operate to performfootwear sole(s) cleaning and sanitization according to the followoperations. Display 120 and/or user interface 412 may illuminate a“Ready” LED and/or indicator such as green indicator 312, indicatingthat system 100 and/or 400 is ready for use. A user may then place onefoot onto sole debris remover 134 and/or debris removal surface (brusharea) at debris removal opening 110. One or more sensors may sense thepresence of the user's footwear. In response to detecting the footwear,display 120 may have a debris removal stage indicator and/or LED startblinking. After about a 1 second delay, controller 410 may initiate thedebris removal process by engaging and/or activating one or more brushmotors. Display 120 and/or interface 412 may change the illumination ofthe debris removal stage indicator and/or LED from blinking to solidillumination on display 120. Display 120 via screen shot 320 may showposition image 322 indicating that the footwear is engaged and/or in thevicinity of debris remover 134.

The debris removal process continues until one or more sensors sensethat the foot and/or footwear is no longer present and/or within thevicinity of debris remover 134 or the process has timed out. Once thedebris remover timer has timed out or the absence of footwear isdetected and sensor data of such status is received by controller 410,controller 410 may deactivate the brush cleaning motors to stop thedebris cleaning brushes from rotating. Also, the debris removalindicator and/or LED may be turned off and the “Ready” indicator and/orLED is illuminated. System 100 and/or 400 may include an E-Stop(emergency stop) button that a user may select on a support handleand/or rail 118 to deactivate the brush cleaning motors.

A user may then place one foot onto one or more of the UV sanitizerinterfaces 112 and/or sanitization areas. Sensors such as sensor 128 maydetect the presence of the user's shoe and send sensor data tocontroller 410 while display 120 may illuminate a sanitization stageindicator and/or LED that blinks on display 120. Green/Red Arrows mayindicate correct/incorrect shoe sole positioning with respect to the oneor more sanitizing interfaces 112 on display 120 and/or via indicatorelements on top surface 104. When a shoe is properly positioned, thegreen position arrows change from red to green and hold.

The user may then place their second foot onto the remainingsanitization area of the sanitizing interfaces 112. Sensors 128 may thendetect the presence of the second shoe and send sensor data tocontroller 410 to indicate the presence of the second shoe in thevicinity of sanitizing interfaces 112. Green/Red Arrows may indicatecorrect/incorrect shoe sole positioning via display 120 and/or viaindicator elements on top surface 104. When the second shoe is properlypositioned, the green position arrows illuminate and hold. After bothshoes are properly positioned, sanitization stage indicator and/or LEDof display 120 blinks rapidly for about 2 seconds. After two seconds,the sanitization stage indicator and/or LED illuminates solid and asanitization graphic is engaged on display 120. UV sanitization emittersmay be activated and/or engaged for the prescribed and/or configuredduration. When the UV sanitizing process is complete, the UV Emittersare shut off by controller 410, sanitization indicators and/or LEDindication ends, the sanitization graphic turns off, and the Readyindicator and/or LED is illuminated.

Whenever controller 410 in response to, for example, sensor data,detects a fault, display 120 and/or interface 412 may illuminate a redindicator and/or LED and/or warning icon to indicate to a user that afault has occurred. This may include a motor failure, overheating, UVemitter failure, and the like. System 100 and/or 400 may includeoptional cell phone sanitization and charging functions that may operateindependently from sole cleaning and sanitizing functions. Display 120and/or interface 412 may include representative icons that will bedisplayed accordingly during the respective phone functions. In certainconfigurations, both UV sanitization and debris cleaning are notoperated simultaneously. In one implementation, no functions can beperformed while system 100 and/or 400 is in a fault mode and/or stage.System 100 and/or 400 may prompt a user to discard collected debris fromdebris collection drawer 138 periodically such as once daily.

FIG. 4 is a block diagram of a footwear sole debris cleaning andsanitization system and/or device 400 that illustrates a user's positionbefore 422, during 424, and after 426, the debris cleaning andsanitization process. System 400 includes a housing 402 having afootwear sanitizer 404, debris remover 406, sensors 408, a controller410, a user interface 412, and data interface 414. Housing 402 mayinclude a top surface 420 and/or 104 on which a user may stand in, forexample, position 424. System 400 may also include user entry portal 416and user exit portal 418.

User entry portal 416 may include a gate or other movable barrier thatallows a user to step onto top surface 420, but prevents the user fromstepping back off the top surface to position 422 to prevent possiblere-contamination of the user's footwear. The barrier may include,without limitation, a swing arm, a railing, a single swinging panel,dual swinging panel, and a turn-style. The barrier may be configured toswing inwardly toward user exist portal 418 from a substantiallyperpendicular orientation with respect to a railing such as railing 116,to a substantially parallel orientation with respect to railing 116 toallow a user to enter the pathway on top surface 420. The barrier,however, may not be configured to swing backwards toward position 422 toprevent a user from back tracking from top surface 420 through the userentry port 416. The barrier may be mounted on and/or extend from railing114 and/or 116. The barrier may be mounted independently on housing 402.User exit portal 418 may include a similar barrier as described withrespect to user entry portal 416 to possibly prevent a user fromstepping on top surface 420 from user exit portal 418 and/or to preventa user from prematurely exiting the top surface 420 before thesanitization process is completed. As previously discussed, UV shield124 may also function as a barrier to prevent an improper entry or apremature exit by a user.

FIG. 5 shows a process 500 for performing debris cleaning andsanitization. Process 500 includes: providing a housing 102 and/or 402(Step 502) and configuring the housing 102 and/or 402 to have: a topsurface 104 and/or 420 arranged to support a user while standing on thetop surface 104 and/or 420, a first side 106 positioned adjacent to auser entry portal 140 and/or 416, and a second side 108 positioned on anopposing side of the housing 102 to the first side 106 where the secondside 106 is positioned adjacent to a user exit portal 142 and/or 418(Step 504); mounting at least one railing 114 and/or 116 on the topsurface 104 and/or 420 (Step 506); extending the at least one railing114 and/or 116 between the first side 106 and the second side 108 of thehousing 102 and/or 402, where the at least one railing 114 and/or 116defines a pathway through which the user passes along from the userentry portal 140 and/or 416 to the user exit portal 142 and/or 418 (Step508); removing debris from the footwear sole using a debris remover 134and 406 having one or more debris removal elements extending toward adebris removal opening 110 in the top surface 104 and/or 420 (Step 510);configuring the one or more debris removal elements to contact thefootwear sole while the footwear sole is positioned over the debrisremoval opening 110 (Step 512); and positioning the debris removalopening 110 in proximity to the first side 106 of the housing 102 and/or402 (Step 514).

Process 500 further includes: removing contaminants from the footwearsole using a sanitizer 148 and/or 404 having one or more sanitizingelements directed toward one or more sanitizing interfaces 112 in thetop surface 104 and/or 420 (Step 516); aligning the one or moresanitizing elements with the footwear sole while the footwear sole ispositioned over the one or more sanitizing interfaces 112 and removingcontaminants from the footwear sole (Step 518); positioning the one ormore sanitizing interfaces 112 laterally on the top surface 104 and/or420 between the debris removal opening 110 and the second side 108 ofhousing 102 and/or 402 (Step 520); generating sensor data from one ormore sensors such as sensors 128 based on at least one of a detectedposition of the footwear sole, detected a position of the user, detectedtemperature of the device, detected presence of debris on the footwearsole, and detected presence of a contaminant on the footwear sole (Step522); controlling operations of at least one of the debris remover 134and/or 406 and sanitizer 148 and/or 404 in response to the sensor data(Step 524); sending cue instructions associated with the one or morecues to a user interface 412 including display 120 (Step 526); andproviding the one or more cues to the user during operations of thesystem via the user interface 412, where the one or more cues includesan instruction to the user to position the footwear sole over at leastone of the debris removal opening 110 and the sanitizing interfaces 148.

FIGS. 6A, 6B, and 6C show a specification table 600 for an exemplaryconfiguration of a debris cleaning and sanitization system such assystem 100 and/or 400.

FIGS. 7A through 14 describe various systems, devices, and techniquesfor providing UV shielding to users while having their footwearsanitized and/or decontaminated using UV light.

FIGS. 7A and 7B illustrate positions 700 and 750 of a lever-based UVshielding device 702 during a UV sanitization and/or decontaminationprocess. Device 702 includes a footwear surface platform 704, footwearsurface platform link 706, lever 708 w/ mid-fulcrum 720, an articulatinglink 710, a guide link 712, and UV-C shield 714.

In operation, as a footwear 716 presses in downward direction 718 onplatform 704, as illustrated in FIG. 7B, platform 704 also moves in thedownward direction 718, pushing link 706 downward. This causes lever 708to pivot in a counter-clockwise direction around fulcrum 720 whichpushes links 710 and 712 in an upward direction 722, resulting in UV-Cshield 714 moving upward and rotating in direction 724 into a positionsurrounding and/or adjacent to a portion of footwear 716.

FIG. 8 illustrates a top down view 806 of a first position with arelaxed cable 802 and a second position with an expanded cable 804 of anelastic aperture UV shielding device 800. Device 800 has a tensioningcomponent 808 including a tension springs 810 and 812 along with pulleys814 to provide tension on the relaxed cable 802 and expanded cable 804such that the device 800 substantially conforms to the perimeter of asole of footwear. Hence, the relaxed cable 802 position may conform to asmaller sized shoe, while the expanded cable 804 may conform to a largersized shoe by expanding in direction 820. The relaxed cable 802 and/orexpanded cable 804 may include linkage wall sections 816 and linkbearings 818.

FIGS. 9A and 9B show side views of an aperture wall of the elasticaperture UV shield device 800 of FIG. 8 including a closed shield forsmaller footwear and an expanded shield for a larger footwear. FIG. 9Ashows a front (inside) view 900 of a portion of an elastic aperturelinkage wall 902, cable 912, and a tension spring 904 of, for example,device 800 in a relaxed position. Wall 902 has a link two-piece pocketcurtain system 906 including curtain foot 908 and linkage wall 910 thatis repeated along the wall 902 to enable wall 902 to expand or contractwhile maintaining a uninterrupted physical UV shield along the wall 900.View 900 shows wall 902 in a relaxed position and spring 904 is in anexpanded position while a larger portion of linkage wall 910 isoverlapped by adjacent curtain feet 910. FIG. 9B shows a front (inside)view 950 of a portion of an elastic aperture linkage wall 902, cable912, and a tension spring 904 of, for example, device 800 in an expandedposition. Wall 902 has a link two-piece pocket curtain system 906including curtain foot 908 and linkage wall 910 that is repeated alongthe wall 902 to enable wall 902 to expand or contract while maintaininga uninterrupted physical shield along the wall 900. View 950 shows wall902 in an expanded position and spring 904 is in a contracted positionwhile a smaller portion of linkage wall 910 is overlapped by adjacentcurtain feet 910, i.e., more of linkage wall 910 is visible between itsadjacent curtain feet 910.

FIG. 10A shows a top down view 1000 of a portion of aperture wall 902 ofFIG. 9 including a linkage bearing 1002, wedge shaped curtain feet 1004,and linkage walls 1006. The wedge shaped curtain feet 1004 provide acontinuous UV shield along the curving perimeter of footwear.

FIG. 10B shows a side view 1050 of the link bearing 1002 and curtainfoot 1004 of FIG. 10A. View 1050 illustrates how a curtain foot 1004includes a foot extension 1010 that extends outwardly toward an outsidearea 1006 away from footwear. Link bearing 1002 allows a portion ofaperture wall 902 in proximity to link bearing 1002 to move towardsoutside area 1006 or toward inside area 1008 that may be adjacent tofootwear.

FIGS. 11A and 11B illustrate how the elastic aperture UV shieldingdevice expands and contracts depending on the size of footwear. FIG. 11Aincludes a view 1100 of a smaller shoe 1102 adjacent to link bearings1002 while aperture wall 902 is in a relaxed position. FIG. 11B includesa view 1150 of a larger shoe 1152 adjacent to link bearings 1002 whileaperture wall 902 is in an expanded position.

In operation, a footwear edge, e.g., footwear 1100, will contact each ofthe link bearings 1002 causing the bearings 1002 to deflect according tothe footwear 1100 size. A cable, such as cable 912, unites allcomponents of aperture wall 902 to promote a harmonized deflectionreaction. Aperture wall 902 includes a pocket curtain having a repeatingtwo-piece wall system 906 that is self-collapsing. The smaller linkagewall section 908 slides into adjacent larger wall sections and/orcurtain feet 1004. Curtain feet 1004 include foot extensions 1010 thatslide and/or extend laterally and block excess UV light emitted from aUV emitter from reaching a user. The cable spring resistance and cablepulley and/or tension system 808 may be located below a surface of, forexample, platform 808 and/or top surface 420. System 808 may be replacedwith an integrated spring system that is similar to that of an elasticmetallic watch band. Link bearings 1002 may be spaced appropriatelyalong the curtain wall 902 to best mirror and/or correspond to footwear1102 or 1152 contours and/or their footwear sole perimeters.

FIG. 12 shows an exploded view of an electric aperture UV shieldingdevice 1200 including multiple film layers. Device 1200 may include atop layer 1202 having 304 stainless steel (304 SS) with a largestfootwear size cutout 1214, tempered glass 1204, polymer-dispersed liquidcrystal (PDLC) film 1206 including a “medium range footwear size” cutout1216, dielectric material 1208 including insulating material betweenadjacent layers of PDLC film 1206 and 1210, and PDLC film 1210 that mayinclude a “smallest footwear size” cutout 1218, and a UV-C emitter 1212.One or more of layers 1202 through 1210 may form a sanitizing interfacearranged to allow UV light to pass through from emitter 1212 towardfootwear positioned above a top surface of layer 1202. In someimplementations, a sanitizing interface may be positioned above layers1202 through 1210 where layers 1202 through 1210 form a UV shield.

In operation, when a shoe size is selected either automatically or by auser via user interface 120 that falls into the “largest” category,neither of the PDLC films 1206 and 1210 are energized. This allows UVlight from emitter 1212 to pass through all of the shapes and/or films1206 and 1210, and pass through cutout 1214 to impact the sole of a shoefor UV sanitization. A third PDLC film may be included to compensate forshoes that have heel designs such as a lady's dress shoe. If so, such animplementation may include an additional layer of dielectric material.When a shoe size is selected that falls into the “medium” category, PDLCfilm 1206 is energized. This allows UV light from emitter 1212 to passthrough the medium sized shape cutout 1216. When a shoe size is selectedthat falls into the “smallest” category, PDLC film 1210 is energized.This allows UV light from emitter 1212 to pass through only the smallestshape cutout 1218.

FIG. 13 is a cross-sectional view of a UV sanitization system 1300 suchas may be implemented in sanitizer 404 or system 100 including a UVlight source layer 1302, UV light blocking layer 1304, and a footwearsensing layer 1306 that may be in contact with a user's footwear 1308.Footwear sensing layer 1306 may be arranged to detect the presenceand/or size of footwear 1308 positioned above layer 1306. Footwearsensing layer 1306 may include a touchscreen and/or touch-sensitivesurface arranged to sense the footwear 1306 size and/or position. Layer1306 may include a resistive touchscreen, capacitive touchscreen, aprojected capacitive touchscreen, an infrared touchscreen, and/or asurface acoustic wave (SAW) touch screen. Light blocking layer 1304 mayinclude switchable glass to control the transmission of UV light from aUV light source in layer 1302 toward footwear 1308. UV light blockinglayer 1304 may include a planar array of microshutters arranged toselectively allow UV light to pass through toward footwear 1308 whileselectively blocking UV light that would otherwise escape past footwear1308 and possibly toward a user's body. Switchable glass of layer 1304may include passive or active elements. For example, microshutters areactive elements that close or open to block or allow light to passthrough respectively. Layer 1304 may include electrochromic switchableglass. Microshutters may include microblinds. Microshutters may be basedon curling electrodes and/or microelectromechanical systems (MEMS).System 1300 may include an additional translucent and/or transparentlayer positioned above layer 1306 and arranged to act as a sanitizinginterface.

In operation, light source layer 1302 may include one or more UV lightemitters arranged to emit UV-A, UV-B, and/or UV-C light 1310 towardfootwear 1308. Layer 1306 senses the presence and/or size of footwear1308. Layer 1306 may sense the area of the sole of footwear 1308 incontact with or close proximity to a top surface of layer 1306. Layer1306 may provide sensor data to controller 1312 and/or controller 410.Based on the sensor data received, controller 1312 or 410 may sendinstructions to layer 1304 and/or various elements thereof (e.g.,shutters) to selectively activate (e.g., open) shutters to allow UVlight to pass through and toward the sole of footwear 1308 whileselectively de-activating (e.g., close) shutters to block UV light inareas of the top surface of layer 1306 that are not in contact with orin close proximity to the sole of footwear 1308. Controller 1312 and/or410 may also control activation of the one or more UV light emitters ofUV light source layer 1302 based on the detected presence of footwear1308.

FIG. 14 shows a process 1400 for providing UV shielding including:supporting first footwear, such as footwear 1102, positioned above asanitizing interface such as interface 112 (Step 1402); detecting apresence of the first footwear 1102 using one or more sensors 408 (Step1404); in response to detecting the presence of the first footwear,positioning an adjustable UV shield such as UV shield 1200 adjacent tothe sanitizing interface 112 (Step 1410); and conforming the adjustableUV shield 1200 substantially to a shape of the first footwear 1102positioned above the sanitizing interface 112 including positioning afirst perimeter of the adjustable UV shield 1200 in close proximitylaterally to a perimeter of a sole of the first footwear 1102 (Step1412), emitting UV light from an UV emitter such as emitter 1212 towardthe first footwear 1102 (Step 1406); passing the UV light through atranslucent material of the sanitizing interface 112 (Step 1408).

FIGS. 15A and 15B illustrate a cell and/or shutter 1500 in a closed orblocking position 1502 and in an open or pass through position 1504respectively. When switch 1508 is open, there is no voltage potentialdifference across the cell 1500 and, therefore, the elements 1510 arenot aligned, which blocks the UV light 1506 from passing through thecell 1500. When switch 1508 is closed, there is a voltage potentialacross the cell 1500 which causes the elements 1510 to be aligned inparallel to, thereby, allow the UV light 1506 to pass through the cell1500. In some implementations, each shutter and/or cell 1500 includes aminiaturized polymer-dispersed liquid crystal (PDLC) and/or PDLC-likedevice that becomes transparent when an electric current is supplied toit. Each shutter and/or cell 1500 may contain a layer with droplets ofpolarized, light-blocking microscopic elements and/or liquid crystals(LC) 1510. In the natural (non-energized/no voltage applied/no current)state, these LC elements 1510 are randomly arranged within each cell1500 and do not permit passage of UV-C light. However, when energizedwith an appropriate, low DC voltage, the LC components and/or elements1510 align themselves in the cell and create open slits through whichthe UV-C light passes.

FIG. 16A shows a row 1600 of cells 1602 through 1612 including powercontrol signal input lines 1614 through 1624. In this configuration, allof the cells 1602 through 1612 share a common return or negative inputline 1626. A voltage and/or current applied via control signal inputlines 1614 through 1624 may be controlled by a microprocessor and/orcontroller 1312. Controller 1312 may, for example independently controleach cell 1602 through 1612 by switching voltages and/or current on eachcontrol signal input line 1614 through 1624. For example, to place cell1602 in an open and/or pass through state, controller 1312 applies avoltage and/or current to cell 1602 via input line 1614 that creates acurrent through cell 1602 between input line 1614 and return line 1626to align its LC elements to allow light to pass through the cell 1602.Controller 1312 can selectively set any of cells 1602 through 1612 to aclosed state by removing a voltage and/or current applied to a selectedcell via its respective input line 1614 through 1624. While the cells1602 through 1612 include LC elements, other types of cells and/orshutters may be used including, for example, microelectromechanical(MEMS) based shutters.

FIG. 16B shows an array 1650 of cells and/or shutters arranged inmultiple rows 1652 and columns 1654. In some implementations, array 1650includes a tightly arranged array of miniature cells 1656 that can beindividually actuated by a processor such as controller 1312 to beeither opened or closed based on their X-Y coordinate location in thearray 1650. Controller 1312 may access a table and/or database in amemory such as memory 204 that maps each cell of the array 1650. Eachentry of the table may store a 1 for an open or activated cell and a 0for a closed or deactivated cell. Each entry may be set based on shapedata received from at least one shape sensor that detects the shape of asurface of footwear facing a sanitizing interface. Controller 1312 mayreview the table to determine which cells of array 1656 to open or closefor screening cells or to activate or deactivate for light emittercells. For example, cell 1656 is the fifth cell in row 1 of array 1650.Hence, its X-Y coordinates in the table may be (5,1).

FIG. 17A shows a UV sanitizing housing 1700 during a footwear detectionphase including optical shape sensors 1702 and 1704 arranged to detectthe presence of an object such as footwear 1710. FIG. 17B shows the UVsanitizing housing 1700 when the UV emitter 1714 is emitting UV light1724 while a portion 1720 of the shutters and/or cells 1718 are open topass through the UV light 1724 toward footwear 1710 while anotherportion 1722 of the shutters and/or cells 1718 are closed to block UVlight 1724 not directed toward the footwear 1710. The shape sensors 1702and 1704 are able to detect the 2-dimensional extent of the shape of theobject that is in close proximity to the top surface of housing 1700using optical detection signals 1726 and 1728 respectively. Housing 1700includes a sanitizing interface 1706 including a top surface 1708arranged to support footwear 1710 positioned above the sanitizinginterface 1706. The sanitizing interface 1706 may include a translucentmaterial arranged to allow UV light to pass through.

The shape sensors 1702 and 1704 may generate shape data associated witha detected shape of a surface 1712 of the footwear 1710 facing thesanitizing interface 1706. Housing 1700 includes at least one UV lightemitter 1714 arranged to emit UV light toward footwear 1710. Housing1700 further includes a shield panel 1716 positioned between UV lightemitter 1714 and sanitizing interface 1706. The shield panel 1716 mayinclude an array of screening cells 1718. Although not shown if FIGS.17A and 17B, the housing 1700 may include a controller such ascontroller 1312 arranged to: i) receive the shape data from sensors 1702and 1704; ii) open a first portion 1720 of the array of screen cells1718 and close a second portion 1722 of the array of screen cells 1718in response to the received shape data; and iii) activate UV lightemitter 1714 once the array of screen cells are configured in responseto the shape data. Housing 1700 may include a proximity sensor 1730arranged to detect the presence of footwear 1710 when positioned abovesanitizing interface 1706, and determine when to start or end thesanitizing process.

In operation, a user places their shoe and/or footwear 1710 (or otherobject) on the defined sanitization areas and/or sanitizing interface1706. Proximity sensor 1730, which may be located on or about topsurface 1708, senses the presence of footwear 1710 and activates theoptical detection sensors 1702 and 1704. All screen cells 1718 areenergized and/or opened to permit the optical detection of footwear 1710located above sanitizing interface and/or shield screen layer 1706. Theshape sensor(s) 1702 and 1704 capture the shoe sole and/or bottomsurface 1712 of footwear 1720 as two-dimensional shape data and transmitthe shape data to controller 1312.

Controller 1312 analyzes and/or processes the shape data and/orinformation and determines which screening cells 1718 within the array1716 are to be energized with prescribed voltage to open the cell, orde-energized to close the cell and block the UV-C light from UV emitter1714. The appropriate cells 1718 within the two-dimensional shape formopposing the bottom surface 1712 of footwear 1710 are energized topermit UV-C light passage and other cells not opposing the bottomsurface 1712 are de-energized to safely block UV-C light passage frombeing transmitted toward the user. The UV-C emitter(s) 1714 is switchedon for a predetermined period of time and sanitization of bottom surface1712 of footwear 1710 occurs. When complete, UV-C emitter(s) 1714 isturned off by controller 1312 and the energized cells 1718 of portion1720 are de-energized. The sanitizing cycle is complete.

FIG. 18 is an exploded view 1800 of multiple layers of a UV sanitizingdevice illustrating how the optical sensor(s) 1802, 1804, and 1806 candetect the shape of footwear. The multiple layers include a shield layer1808 having an array of cells and/or shutters 1810. The shield layer1808 has a portion 1812 of cells that are open to pass through UV lighttoward the footwear while another portion 1814 of the cells and/orshutters is closed to block portions of UV light not directed toward thefootwear from passing through the shield layer 1808. The multiple layersmay include sanitizing interface and/or surface layer 1816 and a bottomprotective layer 1818.

FIG. 19 is an exploded view 1900 of multiple layers of a UV sanitizingdevice illustrating how a mass sensing top layer 1902 detects thepresence and/or shape of footwear. The multiple layers include a shieldlayer 1904 having an array of cells and/or shutters 1906 with a portion1908 of the cells 1906 that are open to pass through UV light toward thedetected footwear while another portion 1910 of the cells 1906 is closedto block UV light not directed toward the footwear from passing throughthe shield layer 1904. The multiple layers may include layers 1912 and1914 above and below shield layer 1904 and a bottom protective layer1916. Mass sensing top layer 1902 may include weight sensing elements,capacitive sensing elements, and/or other elements arranged to detect anobject in close proximity to layer 1902.

FIG. 20A shows a UV sanitizing housing 2000 including a mass sensinglayer 2002 arranged to detect the presence of an object such as footwear2010. The mass sensing layer 2002 includes at least one mass shapesensor 2006 arranged to detect the 2-dimensional extent of the shape offootwear 2010 that is in close proximity the sanitizing interface 2004.Sanitizing interface 2004 includes a top surface 2008 arranged tosupport footwear 2010 positioned above the sanitizing interface 2004.The sanitizing interface 2004 may include a translucent materialarranged to allow UV light to pass through. The at least one shapesensor 2006 is arranged to generate shape data associated with adetected shape of a surface 2012 of footwear 2010 facing the sanitizinginterface 2004. A light emitting panel 2014 includes an array 2016 of UVlight emitter cells 2018 arranged to emit UV-C light toward thesanitizing interface and/or top layer 2004. Although not shown in FIGS.20A and 20B, a controller such as controller 1312 is arranged to: i)receive the shape data and ii) activate a first portion 2020 of thearray 2016 of UV light emitter cells 2018 and deactivate a secondportion 2022 of the array 2016 of UV light emitter cells 2018 inresponse to the received shape data.

FIG. 20B shows the UV sanitizing housing 2000 when the UV emitter panel2014 is emitting UV light while a portion 2020 of the UV light emittercells 2018 are activated to emit UV light toward footwear 2010 andanother portion 2022 of the UV light emitter cells 2018 are deactivatedand do not emit UV light. Housing 2000 may include a proximity sensor2024 arranged to detect the presence of footwear 2010 when positionedabove sanitizing interface 2004.

In operation, an optical or mass detection sensor(s) 2006 detects the2-dimensional extent of the shape of the bottom surface 2026 of footwear2010 that is in close proximity to the top surface 2008 of sanitizinginterface 2004. Controller 1312 interfaces with a memory such as memory204 which may contain firmware and/or a database that understands thetwo-dimensional shape of the bottom surface 2026 defined in shape dataprovided by sensor(s) 2006 and directs portion 2020 of the array 2016 ofUV light emitter cells 2018 to be activated while it directs portion2022 of the array 2016 of UV light emitter cells 2018 to be deactivated.Each of the UV light emitter cells 2018 may include a Micro- or Mini-LEDUV-C emitter. The quantity, size, density, and arrangement depend on theapplication. This system and/or housings 1700 and 2000 can be duplicatedone or more times to sanitize multiple surfaces simultaneously. Thesensor technology selection may depend upon the sensing needs of theobject to be sanitized. The system defined space is scalable up or downby adding sensor and UV-C LED components.

In operation, a user places their footwear 2010 (or other object) on thedefined sanitization areas and/or sanitizing interface 2004. Proximitysensor 2024, which may be located on or about surface 2008, senses apresence of a shoe and/or footwear 2010 (or other object) and activatesthe optical or mass detection sensor(s) 2006. The sensor(s) 2006 capturethe shoe sole or bottom surface 2026 (or other object) two-dimensionalshape, generate shape data, and transmit the shape data to controller1312. Controller 1312 processes and/or analyzes the shape data anddetermines which UV light emitter cells 2018 are to be energized andde-energized. The appropriate UV light emitter cells 2018 within and/oropposing the two-dimensional shape form are energized to emit thesanitizing UV-C light toward the bottom surface 2026 of footwear 2010.When complete, the UV light emitter cells 2018 are turned off bycontroller 1312 and the sanitizing cycle is complete.

FIGS. 21A and 21B are top down views 2100 and 2150 respectively of a UVsanitizing device showing a portion 2102 of screening cells 2106 thatare open and portion 2104 of screening cells 2106 that are closeddepending on the size and/or shape of detected footwear or a portion2102 of UV light emitters that are activated and portion 2104 of UVlight emitters 2106 that are not activated depending on the size of thedetected footwear.

FIG. 22 shows a debris remover 2200 arrange to remove debris from ahand-held device 2202. The hand-held device 2202 may include a mobilephone. Debris remover includes a housing 2204 having a debris removerunit 2206. The debris remover assembly 2206 may include one or morebrushes. As shown in FIG. 22, the assembly 2206 may include one or morerotary brushes arrange to rotate and remove debris from a portion ofdevice 2202 in contact with assembly 2206. A user may move and/or slidedevice 2202 along the top surface 2208 of debris remover 2200 and overassembly 2206 that, in turn, may rotate and remove debris from device2202. The debris may be collected in cavity 2210 for later removal.Assembly 2206 may be motor driven. Debris remover 2200 may have one ormore sensor that detect the presence of device 2202 in proximity todebris remover 2200. A controller such as controller 200 or 410 maycontrol activation and/or deactivation of assembly 2206 based on sensordata from the one or more sensors indicating the presence or absence ofdevice 2202 in proximity to the debris remover 2200.

FIG. 23 shows a sanitizer device 2300 with a hand-held device 2302positioned on the top surface 2304 of the sanitizer device 2300. Thesanitizer device 2300 may include multiple layers such as a shield layer2304 having an array of cells and/or shutters with a portion of thecells that are open to pass through UV light toward the detectedhand-held device 2302 while another portion of the cells is closed toblock UV light not directed toward the hand-held device 2302 frompassing through the shield layer 2304. The multiple layers may includelayers 2306 and 2308 above and below shield layer 2304 and a bottomprotective layer 2310. Mass sensing top layer 2312 may include weightsensing elements, capacitive sensing elements, and/or other elementsarranged to detect an object such as device 2302 in close proximity tolayer 2312. The arrangement and operation of device 2300 is similar tothe arrangement and operations of the UV sanitizing device of FIG. 19.

FIG. 24 shows another UV sanitizing system 2400 arrange to sanitize aportion of another device, e.g., a vehicle 2402, positioned above a topsurface 2404 of a housing 2406 the sanitizer system 2400. Thearrangement and operations of system 2400 may be similar to thearrangement and operations of the UV sanitizer systems of FIGS. 19 and23. However, the housing 2406 is sized to support and/or provide UVemissions and shield for relatively larger devices such as vehicle 2402.

Elements or steps of different implementations described may be combinedto form other implementations not specifically set forth previously.Elements or steps may be left out of the systems or processes describedpreviously without adversely affecting their operation or the operationof the system in general. Furthermore, various separate elements orsteps may be combined into one or more individual elements or steps toperform the functions described in this specification.

Other implementations not specifically described in this specificationare also within the scope of the following claims.

What is claimed is:
 1. A UV sanitizing device comprising: a sanitizinginterface including a top surface arranged to support first devicepositioned above the sanitizing interface, the sanitizing interfaceincluding a translucent material arranged to allow UV light to passthrough; at least one sensor arranged to detect a shape of a surface ofthe first device facing the sanitizing interface; and an adjustable UVemission interface, positioned adjacent to the sanitizing interface,arranged to adjustably conform to the shape of the first device facingthe sanitizing interface, and arranged to emit the UV light toward thesanitizing interface.
 2. The device of claim 1, wherein the adjustableUV emission interface includes at least one UV emitter arranged to emitthe UV light toward the first device and through the sanitizinginterface; and
 3. The device of claim 2, wherein the UV emissioninterface includes an array of UV emitters controllable by a processorto selectively emit the UV light toward the first device.
 4. The deviceof claim 1, wherein the array of UV emitters includes LED emitters. 5.The device of claim 1, wherein the UV emission interface includes a UVshield including an array of cells configured to selectively allow orblock the UV light emitted from one or more UV emitters.
 6. A UVsanitizing system comprising: a sanitizing interface including a topsurface arranged to support first device positioned above the sanitizinginterface, the sanitizing interface including a translucent materialarranged to allow UV light to pass through; at least one shape sensorarranged to generate shape data associated with a detected shape of asurface of the first device facing the sanitizing interface; anadjustable UV emission interface including: at least one UV lightemitter arranged to emit UV light toward the first device; a shieldpanel positioned between the at least one UV light emitter and thesanitizing interface, the shield panel including an array of screeningcells; and a controller arranged to: i) receive the shape data; ii) opena first portion of the array of screen cells and close a second portionof the array of screen cells in response to the received shape data; andiii) activate the at least one UV light emitter.
 7. The system of claim6, wherein the first portion of the array of screen cells includes afirst plurality of screen cells substantially opposing the surface ofthe first device facing the sanitizing interface.
 8. The system of claim7, wherein the second portion of the array of screen cells includes asecond plurality of screen cells that are not substantially opposing thesurface of the first device facing the sanitizing interface.
 9. Thesystem of claim 6, wherein each of the screening cells of the array ofscreening cells includes a liquid crystal (LC).
 10. The system of claim6, wherein the controller opens each of the screening cells of the firstportion of the array of screen cells by selectively applying a powersignal to each of the screening cells of the first portion of the arrayof screen cells.
 11. The system of claim 10, wherein the controllercloses each of the screening cells of the second portion of the array ofscreen cells by selectively removing a power signal to each of thescreening cells of the second portion of the array of screen cells. 12.The system of claim 6 comprising a proximity sensor arranged to detectthe presence of the first device when positioned above the sanitizinginterface.
 13. The system of claim 6, wherein the at least one shapesensor includes one of an optical sensor and a mass sensor.
 14. A UVsanitizing system comprising: a sanitizing interface including a topsurface arranged to support first device positioned above the sanitizinginterface, the sanitizing interface including a translucent materialarranged to allow UV light to pass through; at least one shape sensorarranged to generate shape data associated with a detected shape of asurface of the first device facing the sanitizing interface; anadjustable UV emission interface including a light emitting panelincluding an array of UV light emitter cells arranged to emit UV lighttoward the sanitizing interface; and a controller arranged to: i)receive the shape data and ii) activate a first portion of the array ofUV light emitter cells and deactivate a second portion of the array ofUV light emitter cells in response to the received shape data.
 15. Thesystem of claim 14, wherein the first portion of the array of UV lightemitter cells includes a first plurality of emitter cells thatsubstantially oppose the surface of the first device facing thesanitizing interface.
 16. The system of claim 15, wherein the secondportion of the array of UV light emitter cells includes a secondplurality of emitter cells that do not substantially oppose the surfaceof the first device facing the sanitizing interface.
 17. The system ofclaim 14, wherein each of the emitter cells of the array of UV lightemitter cells includes a light emitting diode (LED).
 18. The system ofclaim 14, wherein the controller activates each of the emitter cells ofthe first portion of the array of UV light emitter cells by selectivelyapplying a power signal to each of the emitter cells of the firstportion of the array of UV light emitter cells.
 19. The system of claim18, wherein the controller deactivates each of the emitter cells of thesecond portion of the array of UV light emitter cells by selectivelyremoving a power signal to each of the emitter cells of the secondportion of the array of UV light emitter cells.
 20. The system of claim14 comprising a proximity sensor arranged to detect the presence of thefirst device when positioned above the sanitizing interface.